MAGIC
TONSILLECTOMY,VANISHING SCARS

Lee's
developmental history was negative except for a mastoid operation and a
tonsillectomy when he was about seven. He remembers that the operations
frightened him, but nothing else about them.

--Warren Commission: Vol. XXI, page 488 (Siegel Exhibit No.
1)

Also indicating that Oswald had a tonsillectomy is a 12/6/63 FBI report
(file # Memphis 105-891; Memphis 44-1165) which reported that a Dr. Philbin of
Dallas, Texas removed Oswald's tonsils on January 17, 1945.

See full page of 12/6/63
FBI report excerpted above.

About an hour into his talk called "Harvey and Lee" at the 1997 November in
Dallas symposium, JFK researcher John Armstrong displayed on overhead
projectors two Marine Corps "Sick Call Treatment Records." One is numbered
1653230, the other, 1652330.

What is fascinating, though, is not the numbers but what else is written on
these old documents. Both name the patient: "Oswald, Lee H. Pvt." And both
indicate that he was suffering from tonsillitis. The entry from 1957 on the
record above indicates he was treated for "tonsillitis."

These sick call records are documented in the USMC "Official Military
Personnel File on Lee Harvey Oswald" (released to researcher Robert J.
McDonnell by the Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Headquarters, on Sept.
29, 1992).

So.... Did Lee Harvey Oswald's tonsils grow back? Were Marine medics
hallucinating? Or is there a more likely explanation?

The Warren Commission, John Armstrong believes, combined the biographies of
two different people to arrive at the classic legend of Lee Harvey Oswald. One
was a Russian speaking youth, possibly the child of Hungarian parents.
Armstrong notes that this person was referred to as "Harvey." The other was a
taller but similar looking boy with a Southern U.S. accent, born as "Lee
Harvey Oswald." Both may well have become entangled at an early age in an
intelligence operation. It was "Harvey" who traveled to Russia and was shot
dead by Jack Ruby. It was "Lee" who got into a fight in the ninth grade at
Beauregard Junior High School and lost a tooth.

One Lee Harvey Oswald had his tonsils removed on January 17, 1945. The
other did not.

And what about the mastoid operation referred to in the Warren Commission
deposition excerpted at the top of this page? Oswald's Marine medical records
indicate the following: "Mastoid operation 1945; Hospitalized 2 weeks, Ft.
Worth, Texas." But despite a careful examination of his body for scars as
small as a quarter on an inch in size, Oswald's autposist recorded none
remotely near the mastoidectomy. The mortician who prepared Oswald's body for
burial couldn't find scars that should have been there either. The scar from a
self-inflicted gunshot wound in the left elbow from Oswald's Marine years also
appeared to have disappeared after his death.

In October, 1957 Lee
shot himself in the left arm with a .22 derringer. The entrance wound was
closed with stitches and the bullit left in his arm. Later an incision was
made on the back side of his arm and the bullet removed. Two incisions--two
scars. After Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby an autopsy was
performed. Photographs were taken of Oswalds arms. There are no scars from a
bullet wound, nor are any scars noted on the autopsy report. Oswald was
prepared for burial and embalmed by Mortician Paul Groody. Groody was twice
asked about scars on Oswald's arms. Groody said he had not seen any scars on
Oswald's arms.

Years earlier, when
Lee Oswald was 6 years old, he had a mastoidectomy operation behind his left
ear. In 1956 Lee's Marine medical examination report lists a 3" mastoid scar
behind his left ear. When Harvey was killed by Jack Ruby, Dr. Earl Rose
performed the autopsy. Dr. Rose noted many scars in his autopsy report, some
were as small as 1/16". Dr. Rose also took 27 color slides of Oswalds body
which are now in the National Archives. There is no 3" mastoidectomy scar on
the autopsy report nor can such a scar be seen in any of the color slides.
It was Lee Oswald who had the 3" mastoidectomy scar-not Harvey. Harvey had
no such scar.

-- John
Armstrong, 1999Univ. of Minn., Minneapolis

These mysteries have long puzzled JFK researchers, but the solution is
simple enough. One Lee Harvey Oswald had a tonsillectomy and a mastoidectomy
in 1945 and shot himself in the left elbow in 1957. The other Oswald did
not.